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The Library of Celsus was begun around 114 AD by Tiberius Julius Aquila in memory of his father, Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, a Roman senator and governor of the province of Asia. Celsus was buried in a sarcophagus beneath the building, which makes it both a library and a monumental tomb.
The two-storey facade, with its columns and niches, was designed to look grander than the building behind it. The statues in the niches personify wisdom, knowledge, intelligence and virtue; the ones you see today are copies, as the originals are kept in Vienna.
The library is thought to have held thousands of scrolls. Damage in the 3rd century and later earthquakes brought the facade down, and archaeologists reassembled it from the fallen pieces in the 20th century. Stand in front of it and imagine the square it once faced.
Visit early or late in the day for fewer people in your photographs.